A majority of Bay State residents favor reforming the criminal justice system so that fewer people are sent to jail, according to a statewide poll done for MassINC and the Massachusetts Criminal Justice Reform Coalition.

By a 2-to-1 margin, those polled said they are more likely to consider drug use as a health problem (64 percent) rather than a crime (24 percent).

Seventy-eight percent would consider early release for drug users and 83 percent say sending drug users to treatment rather than prison would be effective at reducing crime.

Eleven percent support minimum mandatory sentences, while 44 percent favor judges using sentencing guidelines and 41 percent say sentences should be on a case-by-case basis.

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A majority of Bay State residents favor reforming the criminal justice system so that fewer people are sent to jail, according to a statewide poll done for MassINC and the Massachusetts Criminal Justice Reform Coalition.

"The public is clearly ready to try a new approach to the criminal justice system," said Steve Koczela, president of The MassINC Polling Group, which conducted the public opinion poll of 1,207 state residents last month.

"Both the poll and focus groups showed a clear interest in pursuing more effective solutions rather than staying the course with current policies," he said.

Hours after the release of the poll on Thursday, Gov. Deval Patrick proposed a package of cost-effective criminal justice initiatives that will help the state reach its goal of reducing recidivism by 50 percent over the next five years.

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The measures would dramatically improve inmates' reentry into their communities, increase educational and workforce training opportunities for formerly incarcerated individuals, improve treatment centers for people suffering from substance abuse and mental illness and enhance public safety in communities across the state.

"We think there is a more pragmatic, more effective and ... efficient way to think about criminal justice, one that deals with the realities of today, learns from the experience of the past, and actually makes the public safer," Patrick said.

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell said the governor's reforms, particularly those that focus on mental health and substance abuse, make sense. "Neither of these have been addressed by the state," he said.

The Standard-Times asked local officials for reaction to MassInc's poll, on Wednesday and Thursday, after receiving an advance copy.

New Bedford Police Chief David Provencher and Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson called for better preventive measures.

The criminal justice system needs to focus more on preventing recidivism through programs prior to the inmates' release, according to Provencher.

"Job training, education, medical, mental and substance abuse treatment has to be in place prior to their release, if we are to have any hope of reducing recidivism," the chief said.

Hodgson proposed addressing "the front end" of the problem by developing a comprehensive plan that targets third and fourth-graders and will hopefully keep them from ever going to prison.

"If we want to solve our problem, let's be honest about it and decide what we will do on the front end," he said. "That way we will never have to worry about their treatment."

Defense attorney John Connors said a solution that includes only incarceration is not the answer.

"Jails alone doesn't solve anything. They go away. They come back and they're in the same situation," he said. "We've had a war on drugs for a long time and we're losing."

Freetown Police Chief Carlton Abbott said an attitude of treating drugs as a health issue is fine until someone's house is broken into or a person has a gun pointed at them in support of an addict's habit.

"You can't divorce one from the other. You don't excuse criminal behavior because someone has a drug problem, but it is important to address both issues — the drug issues and the criminality," said Abbott, who was a defense attorney before becoming chief.

Fairhaven Police Chief Michael J. Myers and Sgt. Kevin Kobza said they like sentencing guidelines because they would establish "certain parameters" rather than relying solely on judicial discretion on a case-by-case basis.

John M. Xifaras, who retired from the Superior Court bench in August 2000, said crimes arising from drugs such as heroin and cocaine are clearly a health issue, but these crimes become more serious when a weapon is used.

Minimum mandatory sentences are "frightening," and should be abolished in favor of a case-by-case review with non-mandatory sentencing as a guide, he said.

MassINC is a public policy think tank, founded in 1996, to stimulate debate and shape public policy.

The Massachusetts Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, formed in 2012, is a group of prosecutors and corrections practitioners, defense lawyers, community organizers, and businessmen and women who favor corrections reform in Massachusetts.